[Reader-list] Ben Moretti on Reality TV ?

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Readers,

a brief take on the real and televised nature of our times, by Ben Moretti, 
forwarded from Nettime.

Apologies for cross posting

Shuddha

----------  Forwarded Message----------------  
Subject: <nettime> reality tv
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 23:34:41 +0930
From: bmoretti at chariot.net.au
To: nettime-l at bbs.thing.net


i was musing this afternoon on the topic of reality tv. do the tv
watching consumers of the west still need to have a fabricated reality
fed to them every night, since 11 september? or is the all too clear
reality of war, death and hard choices that has been forced upon them
too realistic. i recall a tv executive stating that reality tv would
become the most important entertainment sector on tv, until a couple of
weeks ago that is. so, does hollywood now churn out distracting romantic
comedies as in the 40's, or grimly patriotic cold war paranoia films
such as 'the thing'? who knows. one thing that is weird is that i am
currently re-reading 'the lord of the rings'. it is so very obviously a
product of its time, that of 30s and 40s britain, and its attendant wars
and problems of empire. this year the film of the book will be released.
i wonder how much the film going public will project onto the story, ie:

orcs (islamic terrorists)
sauron (osama bin laden)
gandalf (cheney)
aragorn (bush)
west (west)
mordor (afghanistan)

cheers

ben

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